Jodi Arias Requests Death Penalty After Guilty Verdict
Jodi Arias Requests Death Penalty After Guilty Verdict
Verdict
Convicted first-degree murderer Jodi Arias told
reporters that she preferred the death penalty
over a long life in prison.
choose!
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Pros and Cons of Capital Punishment
Debates on whether capital punishment is
morally correct in a civilized society have
been going on for ages. Let's look at some
pros and cons of death sentence.
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Facts about Capital Punishment
Capital punishment or the death penalty has
always been a controversial topic, considering
its legal and moral implications. While some
claim that it is an effective way of curbing the
crime rate, others argue that it is an
inhumane and cruel method of punishment.
Ohio
38
Other than these states, states like Louisiana,
Arkansas, Arizona, Indiana, Delaware,
California, Illinois, Nevada, Mississippi have
also recorded 10 or more executions since
1976. On the other hand, states like Kansas
and New Hampshire haven't recorded any
executions over the last 3 decades even
though there is a provision for the same
according to the law of the land. Several
states in the US have outlawed capital
punishment. These states include Alaska,
Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota,
New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, Rhode
Island, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin, the
US Virgin Islands.
Methods of Execution
While the historical methods of capital
punishment, which included strangulation and
beheading, were quite harsh, things have
changed considerably today. Among the
various methods of execution used in the
United States, the most prominent one is
Death by Hanging
Execution by Firing Squad
Lethal Injection
Gas Chamber Executions
Death by Stoning
Death by Beheading
Electrocution
Prolonged Uncertainty
The validity to the deterrence argument is
annulled by the delays, endless appeals,
retrials, and technicalities that keeps a person
waiting for execution for years. In fact, we are
not competent enough to carry out execution.
This uncertainty and incompetence offers
another great injustice. It is itself cruel and a
form of torture.
Justifying Circumstances
Sometimes, individuals suffering from
emotional trauma, abandonment, violence,
neglect or destructive social environment
commit such heinous crimes. These
mitigating situations can have devastating
effect on their humanity. So, it is unfair to hold
them fully responsible for their crimes. It is
our social responsibility to show sympathy to
some extent.
Effects on Society
Capital Punishment is itself a premeditated
murder. This is unacceptable even it is
inflicted by state authority as it lowers the
value of life. In fact, such act can only
against-capital-punishment-deathpenalty.html
Death Penalty Cons
Political sciences and legal studies have
matured from primitiveness to sophistication
regarding death penalty. Cons or
disadvantages of this capital punishments
have led to many in society questioning the
very existence of a legal system and its ability
to sentence a person to death.
Rehabilitation Failure
Putting somebody on death row does not
accomplish anything. Death penalty closes all
doors for the criminal to acknowledge his
mistakes. Family members of the convicted
may want to see the murderer punished, but
death penalty will not ease the pain caused
by the loss of the loved one. Retribution will
not pacify the pain or fill the vacuum caused
by the loss. This does not mean we are not to
punish the guilty. A life imprisonment is a
terrible punishment, amplifying the agony of
the convicted over the decades spent in
prison. Moreover, if we take away the
murderer's life, how are we different? Isn't
giving a second chance more humane?
Although lethal injects and electric chairs are
not as barbaric as medieval torture devices, it
still is taking somebody's life.
Death Penalty Pros
Precedent Server
It is believed that keeping harsh punishments
like death penalty conduce to fear in the
would-be murderer's mind pertaining to their
1205
Ohio
1193
Oklahoma
1213
Texas
7
Utah
1210
Virginia
US Death Penalty Statistics 2010
The following table depicts the number of
executions performed by various states of the
US this year, till date.
US State
Executions 2010
Alabama
2
Florida
1
Georgia
1
Los Angeles
1
Mississippi
2
Ohio
5
Oklahoma
1
Texas
13
Utah
1
Virginia
2
Death Penalties in Other Countries
The following table shows the approximate
number of executions in some other countries
in the rest of the world that have been
recorded in the year 2009.
Country
Executions
China
1000+
Iran
388
Iraq
120
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
69
Sudan
9
Syria
8
Yemen
30
Vietnam
9
Egypt
5
Libya
4
Bangladesh
3
Botswana
1
Singapore
1
Thailand
2
Death Penalty Facts
Following are some disturbing death penalty
facts which make us ponder upon the validity
of capital punishment and its procedures, if
not question the fairness of it.
lives.
With DNA testing (99% reliable), the
possibility of sentencing the wrong, innocent
people to death, as used to happen before, is
almost completely eliminated, which prompts
many to ask, if there is no doubt that the
person convicted is guilty, why not sentence
him/her to death?
It is considered that the death penalty acts
as a very strong deterrent for criminals, that it
stops them from committing crimes and
lowers the crime rates. Prison time is enough
to stop most people, but for some people, a
stronger reason is needed. Criminals consider
their odds before taking someone's life. The
fact that most criminals who have been
sentenced to death appeal for life
imprisonment, itself shows that they fear
death more than life in prison.
Top
Arguments Against:
When the court sentences a person to
death, the person sentenced will appeal, till
he exhausts all his appeals. This whole
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How Many States have the Death Penalty
The death penalty does exist in some of the
states in the United States. There are some
states, who have done away totally with the
death penalty and there are some who
continue to have it. Scroll down to know the
number of states, where death penalty is still
awarded.
Louisiana
Maryland
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
North Carolina
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Virginia
Washington
Wyoming
After reading the list of states that do have
the death penalty, there may be questions
about the state of Illinois. According to a
stage.
Even if the criminal is sentenced to death, the
victim will not come back to life. On the
contrary, the criminal's innocent family
members will have to bear the brunt of this
sentence.
There is no concrete evidence to suggest that
death penalty acts as a deterrent. If it was, it
would have brought down crime rate in
several countries of Middle East by now.
The chances of a poor innocent person being
convicted and executed for a crime he didn't
commit just because he was not able to afford
a good lawyer to defend him cannot be ruled
out.
Even the critics of death penalty have some
questions which they put forth when
supporting their stand on why death penalty
should be abolished:
Do you really need to kill someone to
highlight the fact that killing someone is
wrong?
Doesn't it tantamount to revenge when a
person is sentenced to death for a crime he
has committed?
Can anyone assure that there are no
loopholes in the judicial system and no